Conducting transactions using mobile devices is becoming increasingly popular. Mobile devices can communicate with a point-of-sale (POS) device or terminal, such as by NFC or other short range signaling, in order to communicate account and other transaction information. A user of the mobile device can thus use one or more accounts (credit, debit or other) without having to carry and present a traditional payment card to a merchant.
Transactions conducted with mobile devices do carry some risk. For example, a fraudster may be able to obtain payment credential information (account number and related data needed for a transaction) and use that information to attempt a transaction with a device that is not the mobile device of the authorized account holder. Banks and other financial institutions processing card transactions may require higher levels of scrutiny to authenticate the user when the transaction is conducted using a mobile device, sometimes leading to transactions being declined (out of an abundance of caution) when there is any uncertainty about the transaction.
Thus, additional forms of authenticating the user can be useful for these types of transactions.